Acquisition of Level 4 L2 English Writing Proficiency by Students Whose First Language is Arabic

Betty Lou Leaver (New York Institute of Technology)
Amal Jasser (Jordan University of Science and Technology)
Rajai Khanji (University of Jordan)

To date, we have done primarily preliminary work on this project, with the most extensive data collection to take place this month. Our work has fallen into the following categories: development and refinement of the collection instrument, initial collection, presentation, publication, and conference planning.

Collection

In order to collect data, we developed a highly detailed survey. This survey was based on a similar survey used to collect data for a study on the development of foreign-language speaking skills. That survey instrument was vetted for construct validity with the Divison of Evaluation at the Defense Language Instrument, a group of a dozen psychometricians, specializing in the analysis and assessment of foreign-language acquisition.

In developing the instrument for collecting data about acquisition of writing skills, we changed pertinent items from speaking to writing skills—both productive skills, which made the conversion of the instrument possible. Some items were removed and others added. In doing so, we were careful to maintain the construct validity by following the same principles used in designing the speaking data collection instrument.

Dr. Amal Jasser and Dr. Betty Lou Leaver subsequently presented the instrument (see Presentation below) at the 2004 annual conference of the Coalition of Distinguished Language Centers at Howard University in Washington, DC last November. Several experts in the teaching and assessment of writing skills in ESL and in foreign language attended the session and gave us suggestions on refining the instrument.

Upon return to Jordan, Dr. Amal Jasser, Dr. Rajai Khanji and I met and finalized the instrument. We have tested out the instrument on a small, pilot group (see Preliminary Results below). Based on that, we have now developed and refined an instrument that we feel confident about.

By the time the instrument was ready, all three universities were closed for semester break. We have identified a group of 500 students each at Jordan University and the Jordan University for Science and Technology and 100 students at the New York Institute of Technology. Collection is planned for March 2005.

Presentation

As mentioned above, Dr. Amal Jasser and Dr. Betty Lou Leaver made a presentation on the project at the 2004 conference of the Coalition of Distinguished Language Centers. This is the only conference in the US on teaching and learning at near-native levels of foreign languages. The CDLC estimates that close to 80% of all individuals working at this level attend the conference each year.

The presentation was well attended. Good feedback was obtained, and participants were very interested in the topic and our potential results.

Publication

Dr. Amal Jasser and Dr. Betty Lou Leaver wrote up the conference presentation for publication in the conference proceedings. The proceedings will be edited by Inna Dubinsky and Richard Robin and published later this year by MSI Press.

Conference Planning

The three principal investigators for this project have planned a conference on this topic to share results and to learn what others know. The conference, which has been announced internationally, will take place in April 2006 at Jordan University.

Preliminary Results

The only results available are from the pilot group. One piece of interesting information in that data is the fact that most participants report that their acquisition of nativelike writing skills did not come from the language classroom (which generally provided them with writing skills at levels lower than nativelike) but from subject-matter courses at the university level. In fact, teachers of history, political science, and other subjects requiring much research and writing were credited as much (and more) with the development of high-level English-language writing skills as ESL teachers. Much more data will be available after the collection of information later this month, and we will watch to see if this pattern continues, as well as try to determine why ESL teachers have had a lesser influence and whether we can improve the teaching of writing in ESL classrooms as a result of the information we obtain.